Product Description

Many Christians mistakenly believe that true Christians don't get depressed, and this misconception heaps additional guilt and pain onto those who are suffering. Author David P. Murrary comes to the defense of depressed Christians and explains why and how Christians should study depression, and the approaches caregivers, pastors and churches can take to help those in emotional distress.

Although I have never suffered from depression, like you, I interact with people who are or have been depressed. Since that is the case, I felt reading a short biblically-based book (128 pages) about depression was something I should do. Christians Get Depressed Too is written by Dr. Murray, an Old Testament and theology professor at Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary. I have greatly benefited from Dr. Murray's HeadHeartHand blog as well as his resources, How Sermons Work and God's Technology, and now I can add Christians Get Depressed Too to that list. Christians Get Depressed Too is organized in the following manner:

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1: The Crisis

Chapter 2: The Complexity

Chapter 3: The Condition

Chapter 4: The Causes

Chapter 5: The Cures

Chapter 6: The Caregivers

Appendix: On the Sufficiency of Scripture: Salvation, Sanctification, and Spectacles

Dr. Murray provides a very compassionate view of depression. We must understand that people from all walks of life can and do suffer from depression and at varying degrees. Everyone's mental, physical, or spiritual state must be examined carefully. This includes Christians. Dr. Murray may not be a doctor or psychologist, but the contents of this book are supported by those who are. Dr. Murray has had to communicate with a countless number of depressed people, and he offers practical advice and encouragement. If you are wanting books about depression that are more in depth, the last chapter contains a list of recommendations. If you are depressed, prone to depression, or know of someone that suffers from depression, I believe Dr. Murray's book can provide you some useful information and perhaps a level of comfort.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings, so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort too. 2 Corinthians 1:3-5

I was hospitalized with severe depression and contemplating suicide when this book was given to me. It turned me around, and because of this book I can be here today, having returned to church and my Bible study group. Praise God!

Having been trained in Nouthetic Counseling, I came away thinking that this writer had obviously had a very bad experience. For those suffering from depression that is feelings oriented & has not been proven by medical testing to be a physical issue (not some theory devised by psychiatry) this book offers no hope of ever living victorious. The mixture of Bible with todays modern Psychiatry to come up with "Biblical Counseling" puts God and His Word as being subjective to the widom of man. Having suffered depression myself, I know that the Word of God is our only true hope for healing. If you want to know what God desires from you and how he can transform your life from depression to joy, this is not the book.